+

Tonus Peregrinus

May the three-fold blessing of the Triune God be upon all who visit my blog.

Pray for me, a sinner.

+

Good St. Matthew, pray for me

The General Collect of The Family Uher

O MIGHTY and merciful God, who gavest thy Son Jesus Christ to be born of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to be guarded by the just, venerable, and blessed Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse: Keep the Holy Family ever before our eyes so that we may rightly order our own family to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord who with thee and the Holy Ghost art one God in glory everlasting. Amen.

+

St Columba, pray for me.

Franciscan Sisters

Pilgrimage of Grace

Holy Wounds Banner

ETERNAL Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all of the souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere,for sinners in the universal Church, those within my house, and in my own family. Amen.

Walsingham Abbey

THE HOUR

In the Holy City JERUSALEM

The time in my wee Hermitage

In Holy Glastonbury & Old Sarum

Ave Jesu Christe

Our Lady of the Atonement, pray for us.

+

O God of unchangeable Power and eternal Light: Lookfavourably on thy whole Church, that wonderful and sacred Mystery; by the effectual working of thy Providence, carryout in tranquillity the plan of Salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being madenew, and that all things are being brought to their perfectionby Him through Whom all things were made, thy Son JesusChrist our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unityof the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Welcome, Dear Readers

visits

25 February 2016

R. Somerset Ward has long been identified as the author of The Way which was first published in 1922. If one were to open one of the original editions of this work, one would find that the author is simply listed as A Priest. The priest in question was one ordained in the Church of England and was indeed The Revd Reginald Somerset Ward.

The following is a brief illustration from a section in The Way sub-titled(ii) SELF-COMPARISON:

From the ancient city of Jerusalem there rose a multitude of towers and turrets and spires and pinnacles, so that the beauty of that city seen from afar off was beyond mortal tongue to tell. Now it came to pass on a day that two pilgrims were approaching the Holy City When he saw it from afar off, one of them burst forth into many exclamations, and presently he set himself to mark which was the highest pinnacle. "For surely," said he, that is the one which will rise from the summit of the Temple of the most High God." And first he was assured that a certain pinnacle was the highest, but anon, when the road turned and he beheld the city from a new side, he would have it that another was the highest, and then again, when the road descended into the valley, yet a third had the pre-eminence. At each new view he must needs expound the matter to his companion, who said never a word.And at last, being wroth with this friend's silence, he said to him, “Have you not yet noticed how such an one is higher, or whether such an one is the highest of all?""Nay," said his companion, "I have but noticed that all alike point upwards."

The Way

R. Somerset Ward

The S. Christopher Press

13 Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street

London, 1934

pp. 47-48

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

24 February 2016

O Lord our God, forgive all the sins I have committed this day in word, deed, and thought, for Thou art good and loves mankind. Grant me a peaceful sleep, free of restlessness. Send Thy Guardian Angel to protect and keep me from all harm. For Thou art the Guardian of our souls and bodies, and to Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

O Lord our God, in Whom we believe and upon Whose Name we call more than any other name: grant relief to our souls and bodies as we go to sleep. Keep us from every fantasy and dark pleasure. Halt the rushing of passions and quench the fiery arousals of the flesh. Grant us to live chastely in word and deed. Having embraced a virtuous life, may we not fall away from Thy promised blessings, for blessed art Thou for ever. Amen.

A Prayer of Supplication by Saint John Chrysostom

For the Day

Lord, exclude me not from Thy heavenly blessings. Lord, deliver me from eternal torments. Lord, whether I have sinned in mind or thought, word or deed, forgive me. Lord, deliver me from all ignorance, forgetfulness, cowardice, and stone like insensitivity. Lord, deliver me from every temptation. Lord, enlighten my heart which evil desires have darkened. Lord, as a man I have sinned: as a gracious God, have mercy on me, seeing the weakness of my soul. Lord, send Thy Grace to my aid, that I may glorify Thy holy name. Lord Jesus Christ, inscribe me, Thy servant, in the book of life, and grant me a good end. Lord, my God, even though I have done nothing good before Thee, grant by Thy Grace that I may make a good beginning. Lord, sprinkle the dew of Thy Grace into my heart. Lord of Heaven and earth, remember me, Thy sinful, shameful and impure servant, in Thy Kingdom. Amen.

For the Night

Lord, accept me in penitence. Lord, abandon me not. Lord, lead me not into temptation. Lord, grant me good thoughts. Lord, grant me tears, the remembrance of death and compunction. Lord, grant me the thought of confessing my sins. Lord, grant me humility, chastity, and obedience. Lord, grant me patience, courage, and meekness. Lord, cause the root of good to dwell in me — Thy fear in my heart. Lord, grant that I may love Thee with all my soul and mind and to do Thy will in all things. Lord, protect me from certain people, demons and passions, and from any other unseemly thing. Lord, I know that Thou doest as Thou wilt: may Thy will be in me, a sinner, for blessed art Thou for ever. Amen.

Dear Reader, you will want to read a brief essay from Patrick Deenan that opens with the following:

“My students are know-nothings. They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their brains are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge that might be the fruits of an education in an inheritance and a gift of a previous generation. They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten nearly everything about itself, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference to its own culture.”

18 February 2016

O JESUS, my Saviour and Redeemer, Son of the living God, behold, we kneel before Thee and offer Thee our reparation; we would make amends for all the blasphemies uttered against Thy holy name, for all the injuries done to Thee in the Blessed Sacrament, for all the irreverence shown toward Thine immaculate Virgin Mother, for all the calumnies and slanders spoken against Thy spouse, the holy Catholic and Roman Church.

O Jesus, who hast said: "If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you", we pray and beseech Thee for all our brethren who are in danger of sin; shield them from every temptation to fall away from the true faith; save those who are even now standing on the brink of the abyss; to all of them give light and knowledge of the truth, courage and strength for the conflict with evil, perseverance in faith and active charity!

For this do we pray, most merciful Jesus, in Thy name, unto God the Father, with whom Thou livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Spirit world without end. Amen

09 February 2016

I noticed on a very fine traditional Catholic blog this bit of artwork:

The above illustration is by an Anglican illustrator and artist, the late Enid Chadwick of the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Little Walsingham, England. This, dear Reader, is part and parcel of the Anglican Patrimony which is already enriching the Latin Rite of the Church in ways unseen and perhaps unnoticed, but it is already there ... a little leaven leavening the lump.

+ + +

With Ash Wednesday comes the remembrance of a Presbyterian hymn a friend once sang to me as an example of the kind of religious song that filled her childhood. I thought I would share the text of that fine hymn as it relates to today's themes for Ash Wednesday:

Mindful of our human frailty

Is the God in whom we trust;

He whose years are everlasting,

He remembers we are dust.

Man is like the tender flower,

And his days are like the grass,

Withered where it lately flourished

By the blighting winds that pass.

Changeless is the Father's mercy

Unto those who fear His name,

From eternity abiding

To eternity the same.

All the faithful to His covenant

Shall behold His righteousness;

He will be their strength and refuge

And their children’s children bless.

Isaac B. Woodbury, alt.

(1819-1858)

The Psalter, 1912

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The United Presbyterian

Board of Publication

Finally, I wish to share with you a sort of concert from the Choir of New College, Oxford. The video below includes the music from their extremely popular CD 'Agnus Dei'. The music begins with Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei. May this music bless your heart, soul, and mind this Ash Wednesday and as we enter into the Great and Holy Season of Lent.

Ethiopian Orthodox nun and composer Mother Maryam Emahoy Tsegué is one of Jerusalem's precious treasures. The following video was part of a celebration of the music of Emahoy Tsegué in A.D. 2013 in Jerusalem. 2 women sing her setting of the Lord's Prayer first in the Ethiopian Amharic language and then in Hebrew.

Mother Maryam Emahoy Tsegué is the elderly nun seen in the video seated in the front row dressed either in black or in white.